Get twice as much done in half the time. Sounds like an impossible pitch made at carnivals for “crinkle cutter” or some such amazing machine for making salad, doesn't it? But doing more and working less isn't impossible; the catch phrase is “work smarter” and it applies to family life as well as to the business world.
Areas where working smarter gives you freed time include shopping for groceries, pet and personal needs, cleaning supplies and meal preparation.
Trips for often-used staples and groceries are easy to cut in half — buy twice what you need. Storage costs less than gas and your time plus you literally won't run out of supplies unexpectedly. If you shop twice weekly now, you can cut that to once, or maybe less.
Paper towels, wax paper, sandwich bags, stretch wrap, ketchup, butter, and more than I can list here, can be bought, like Noah brought the animals on board, two-by-two, and will give you free time by shopping half as often.
Buy the largest container you can store and pour into smaller sizes. Fabric softener people save on expensive packaging for conservation reasons, so look on your time as deserving conservation too. Laundry soap will always get used, will never spoil, so buy the largest size; the same is true of dishwashing detergent, shampoo, pet foods, napkins, etc.
Make meal preparation do double duty by doing two jobs at once whenever possible. Make two meatloafs, cook both, freeze one for later. Bake two chickens, barbecue twice as many ribs, cook two roasts, make chili and spaghetti in batches large enough to serve several meals.
Mixing and cooking time are just about the same; clean up is halved as you don't have to wash everything two times; savings on time and electricity are halved and your productivity doubled. More “free” time happens if while cleaning up from one meal, you cook for the next. Boil or bake potatoes, fry or boil meat, make Jell-O or pudding, all of which can be watched while you are in the kitchen anyway.
Time is like money in that we often spend it before we know it is gone, and it is hard to find more when we need it most. Watching how we spend our time and on what means looking closely at ways we can change what we do to work smarter, not harder or longer.
We may find the “half-time” savings is liberating, gives us choices about what and when we do, thus giving us free time with our families and for ourselves.
Darby Kethan has a master's degree in child development, and has experience as a social worker, educator of young children, educational consultant, and as a professional trainer for a national educational foundation providing professional development to teachers. Visit her website at darbykethan.com.
